I live about 5 miles east of the Lockheed facility in Owego, NY that is working on the new presidential helicopter and the thing thunders over my house on what seems like a daily basis. I was finally quick enough to grab my camera and catch a shot if it, albeit a rather poor shot.

Looks like it's at about 500 feet.

There is a small GA airport across the river from me and the helicopter makes VERY low passes over NYS Rte 17 into the airport.

When is it expected to go into service?

[Edited 2007-08-19 20:16:13]

It's 737s, 747s and 380s. Not 737's, 747's and 380's. Learn to use the apostrophe for crying out loud.

I must admit I only read Wikipedia in this regard. Is it true that they arrived at 2,4Bil$ for 23 helicopters? I would expect it to be equipped with all the latest warning and countermeasures stuff, plus secure communication and VIP interior, but how can that boost a normally 15-20Mil$ price tag to staggering 105Mil$ a piece ????

Quoting USAF336TFS (Reply 1):Lockheed is getting alot of grief from the Navy over it....

Quoting PADSpot (Reply 2):but how can that boost a normally 15-20Mil$ price tag to staggering 105Mil$ a piece ????

The development costs for the project are being wrapped into your figure. The VH-71A per unit cost is expected to be about $82 million per aircraft. And yes, it does include some very expensive systems that will never be on most/any other helicopters, some that had to be custom design and or rebuilt just to fit into one. The systems cost alone are over half the total unit cost. Its entire purpose in life is to survive while in flight long enough to get safely to the ground. The H-92 Superhawk would have experienced similar costs, though I'm sure someone could/will argue that.

Tug

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